The fashion and beauty magazines may be assaulting your senses, hyping all sorts of bold lips, bright eye colors, and outlandish hair and nail colors, but sometimes it’s nice just to keep your face clean and look more natural. That doesn’t mean you should get up and go out without any cosmetics. For starters, moisturizer and SPF are always a must. When it comes to lips, daily protection is also important, especially if yours are dry, cracked and/or sensitive. There’s no “Summer lovin” for dry, cracked, Winter weary lips. But with Valentines Day nearly here, you’re going to need some TLC if you want to enhance romance. When it comes to lips, the best products are those that do good, and look good. No matter what your budget or preference, there is at least one lip loving product in the following sensational six, to get you through Winter, and Valentine’s Day, looking beautiful.
mermaid beach lip gloss gives your lips just a touch of shimmer and tint and lots of shine
Pacific Illusions Beauty is a mineral makeup line with lip glosses that smell good, feel pampering, and don’t contain have harmful ingredients that you can’t help but ingest off your lips. This brand is based on the concept of “free,” in other words, free of: parabens, talc, scent–and it’s cruelty-free as well. Not everyone cares, but if you do, you[ll be happy to pay extra, for this hypoallergenic line. I only tried one lip product –the Mermaid Beach Lip Gloss shown above. But there are more user-friendly colors in every makeup category. The “Mermaid Beach” lip gloss ($25.00) in a wanded tube is a great “no makeup” choice. This super-sheer gloss enhances pale lips in a way that a clear balm or gloss can’t, perking them up with just a hint of pink and parti-colored shimmer. The sheer tint with shimmer enlivens lips even if they are pale and dry. Wear it alone, or over your favorite lip color.
Based on my delight with this one gloss, I was disappointed to see that the company web site is under construction so you can’t see the products, but that should be remedied soon. You can try ArtisanGemsBoutique.com to buy yours right now.
Another beautifier that is basically a balm and lip treatment, does a lot for a decent price. Skin Transformer Lip Rewind ($28.00) is an advanced Peptide Lip Treatment that not only has broad spectrum SPF protection, it hydrates and protects your lips while it restores , softens and smooths. SPF 20 protection actives are 7.5% octinoxiate, 3% oxybenzone, and 2% avobenzone. The dial up pen with slanted sponge tip makes it easy to apply, whether you’re slathering it on as sun protection at the beach or pool, or you just want your lips to feel and look better. At SPF 20 it’s not just a nod to protection (but apply it 15 minutes before sun exposure for maximum benefit). Skin loving ingredients like white rose moss and powerful peptides give your lips a fighting chance for recovery and enhancement. Hyaluronic acid moisturizes, soybean and ceramide-3 smooth and soften. The product claims to visibly reduce lip lines. Perhaps over time, it will, but if nothing else, it gives your lips a fighting chance. What it doesn’t have is any Parabens, Sulfates or Phthalates .
The Advice Sisters reviewed Miracle Skin Transformer’s skincare system last Summer. I really liked the Miracle Skin Transformer SPF 20 Face, a 5-in-1 tinted skin enhancer-in a-tube, designed to Hydrate, Prime, Enhance, Mattify & Protect your skin in one simple step. I like the Miracle Skin Transformer Lip Rewind treatment for its similar, multi-tasking reasons. If your lips are hurting and sensitized due to heat, wind and cold, this lovely silvery stick of lip-loving goodness will also soothe and condition, thanks to antioxidant-rich butters. The gloss tingles a bit going on, and smells slightly of vanilla. There are four sheer colors and a translucent, but I liked “Coral” that adds shine and a very pale coral to bring life to pale, dry lips. It’s pricey, but if this lip balm/treatment/gloss/sun protector helps keep lips looking younger, longer, I’m getting every color! Get yours at Sephora, Nordstrom, and online
Not a lip gloss or a tint, but a powerful, potential lip beautifying treatment, is Collagenesis Lip Stem Rejen® – Advanced Lip & Laugh Line Therapy by SKINN Dimitri James ($32.50 0.5 oz.). I am a fan of Skinn color cosmetics, but this is a lightweight lip and skin treatment in a pump, with no color. Makeup artist Dimitri James, creates products using using highly active, concentrated natural ingredients and avoiding excess water, fillers or packaging. The packaging isn’t fancy, but the products are where the investment is! The non-sticky treatment has a mouthwash-y minty scent, but it’s not sticky or unpleasant on the lips. Collagenesis Lip Stem, exclusive to SKINN, it is formulated to reduce the appearance of vertical lip lines and wrinkles on and around the lip contour area and to reduce the look of of laugh lines. To use, pump out a portion around mouth are and onto laugh lines AM and PM after serum treatments, and then follow up with a moisturizer and SPF (if your moisturizer doesn’t contain any).
A cocktail of five anti-aging peptides help to enhance existing collagen and smooth your skin, while skin firmers and natural botanicals add that extra oomph! The claim is for immediate results, and long term benefits. I didn’t see immediate results, but I did feel the “tingle” of the product on my skin and like a lip plumper, the tingle lasted for a while, providing what felt like some firming action. The fact that this product is crafted to tackle the upper lip and nasolabial folds, is exciting, because laugh lines are one of the most prominent sign of aging. I have to caution that what works amazingly well for some, might not work as well (or at all) for others. You can also re-apply it throughout the day if you wish. For those who just need to know, the first four ingredients in a long list are: Aloe barbadensis (aloe) leaf juice, palmitoyl hexapeptide-12, pyrus malus (apple) saccharides, caprylic/capric triglyceride. I am not sure when the “Stem” comes from, since there doesn’t seem to be any mention of stem cells or stem cell technology in the “Stem Rejen” products. If I’m wrong, please correct me. You can get Dimitri James on several online sites, but I always suggest going to the official web site first: http://skinn.com/dimitri-james/
One of the drool-worthy gift guides the Advice Sisters produced for the holidays, was the gift set feature on BareMinerals by Bare Escentuals. And one of the products I personally love the most, was the Marvelous Moxie™ Lip Gloss ($18.00), featured in some of the sets. These glosses rock! They’re super shiny, smell refreshingly of mint (with a touch of tingle when you apply the gloss), and sheer colors to flatter everyone. This gloss The lip gloss arrives in a rounded glass tube with wanded applicator (and that sponge tip is longer and slimmer than usual for better control).
My pick for a complexion booster is “Party Starter,” a creamy, lip-plumping peach that is sheer but has enough of a tint to look like you added a little something to brighten and enhance pale (or otherwise bare) lips. The formula is infused with natural ingredients, exotic oils, botanical extracts, and antioxidants. There are plenty of other colors, but this peach is a universally flattering neutral toned peach that makes dry, Winter weary lips look lucious. With Valentines’ Day nearly here, it’s an instant lip make-over! Get your favorites, including “Party Starter” at http://www.bareescentuals.com/
When thinking about Valentine’s Day, you can’t help think about things that start with the letter “V.” For example, vbeauté Lip Spread ($28.00) is the name for an anti-age Tinted Lip Gloss, but it can also put the va-va-voom into your Valentines Day lip lock sessions! Vbeaute products are the brainchild of fashion socialite Julie Macklowe. She wanted her products to be unique, and the star ingredient she chose came from Swiss botanical stem-cells from the Alpine Rose plant. These are one of the Longevity Botanicals that have developed impressive anti-aging abilities, adapting over the centuries to very harsh conditions (in the High Alps), such as cold, UV and severe dryness. The result of research for Vbeaute was an exclusive vComplex using these stem cells, but married with high tech bio-chemical power. The complex helps skin to heal and it also has anti-aging and DNA protecting abilities that track with your skin’s own cellular needs. No matter your age, climate, stress level or lifestyle, it is supposed to give your skin exactly what it craves.”
vbeaute Lip Spread doesn’t just have skin benefits, and it doesn’t just help lips feel nice, it helps beautify. The clear formula is really self-adjusting, to react to your lip chemistry, creating a tint that’s all your own. Usually these types of “mood formulas” turn a garish hot pink, but on my skin, this product turned a beautiful, soft rose, with subtle, moist shine. The formula arrives in a purple, slant-tip squeeze tube, and while you’re applying it you might enjoy knowing that it also has Cherry and Pomegranate Fruit Extracts to keep your lips feeling soothed and hydrated, while the BioCellular Peptide works to correct and prevent environmental damage. If it’s important to you, the good news is that Lip Spread is also Paraben free,Fragrance free,Gluten free, Nut free, and Oat free. The gloss feels silky, the tint is flattering to you and subtle…..kiss with confidence all night long and your lips will still look and feel good! Get yours at: www.vbeaute.com, or Bergdorf Goodman, www.bergdorfgoodman.com
Young girls also celebrate Valentine’s Day, of course. I love the story behind What’s Your Virtue? This line was inspired by a mother with young daughters who, while shopping, realized that many of the beauty products on the market had suggestive names not really appropriate for her 13 year old daughter to display in public view, let alone on her lips. The mom went home and collaborated with some friends to create What’s Your Virtue?, a company with a lip gloss that supports positive messaging for “girls” of all ages. The What’s Your Virtue? Lip Bliss Lip Gloss ($12.00) arrives in slim, slant-tip tubes, with colors ranging from clear, to a deep berry red and a bright pink, with names like Wisdom, Kindness, Simplicity, Generosity, Devotion and Curiosity. The two I tried (Curiosity- a pearly bright pink; Wisdom – a deep berried red) were semi-opaque. with more color than the usual sheer, and with loads of shine. The silky gloss also offers a pepper-minty tingle that makes “face time” even friendlier. Lip Bliss is gluten free, not tested on animals, and contains no parabens. Get yours at: http://whatsyourvirtue.com
